UPDATE 1-Calpine to buy Texas power plant for $432 mln

Thursday, 4 Oct 2012 | 8:39 AM ET

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Oct 4 (Reuters) - Calpine Corp , the largest U.S. independent power generator, said it will buy an 800-megawatt power plant from Bosque Power Co LLC for $432 million plus adjustments, boosting its capacity in power-hungry Texas.

The 280-acre plant, located in Central Texas in Bosque County, comprises two generating blocks powered by natural gas.

In April, Calpine said it will add more than 500 megawatts in Texas by the summer of 2014 to help avoid rolling outages.

Texas faces the risk of running out of power reserves -- the minimum generation capacity needed to cushion against extreme weather or unplanned outages.

The Houston-based company expects to close the deal in early November and plans to fund it with cash on hand.

Shares of the company, valued at $8.28 billion, closed at $17.75 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Sunayan Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Sreejiraj Eluvangal)